Belmont-Winning Trainer Antonucci Fights HIWU Suspension, Seeks FTC Review

Jena Antonucci built her career with exactitude: meticulous record-keeping, a reputation for doing things right, and a 2023 Belmont Stakes win with Arcangelo that made her the first woman to train a Triple Crown race winner. That credential now stands as the backdrop for a Federal Trade Commission proceeding that will test how HIWU sanctions hold up under full administrative law scrutiny.

Antonucci filed an emergency petition with the FTC seeking a stay of a 15-day suspension and $1,000 fine imposed by the Horseracing Integrity & Welfare Unit. The sanction stems from a positive test for a metabolite of lidocaine taken from her filly Bee a Queen following a race at Gulfstream Park on June 14, 2025. HIWU also assigned two penalty points under its Anti-Doping and Medication Control Program and ordered the automatic disqualification of Bee a Queen's June 14 result, stripping the filly of her prize money from that outing.

The ineligibility period began April 2 and runs through April 16. Alongside the emergency stay motion, Antonucci filed an application for de novo review at the FTC, the statutory remedy available to covered persons under the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act who contest a final HIWU decision. Her legal team argues the lidocaine finding resulted from contamination or an innocuous source rather than any intentional or negligent conduct, and characterizes the sanction as disproportionate given HIWU's methodology and factual conclusions.

In an unusual development, the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority itself told the FTC it does not oppose Antonucci's stay request. HISA cited the suspension's short duration and acknowledged that Antonucci has raised a "colorable" ground for appeal, a term of administrative law signaling a plausible argument that warrants FTC consideration. The case has been assigned to Administrative Law Judge Jay L. Himes, who has previously granted stays in analogous HIWU enforcement matters.

Despite the legal battle, Antonucci has not distanced herself from the regulatory framework she publicly championed in years prior. "I do still support what HISA's intended for," she told the Paulick Report. "The intent of HISA is the horse, and what is protecting the horse, and the integrity of how we do right by the horse."

The practical stakes around the FTC's ruling extend well past this two-week window. If ALJ Himes grants the stay, Antonucci continues training and entering horses while the FTC conducts its de novo review of HIWU's determination. If the motion is denied, she serves the full April 2-16 period regardless of the pending appeal, losing access to the barn and any stakes entries during the heart of the spring meet.

For every trainer navigating HIWU enforcement, the Antonucci case is a live demonstration of the procedural tools available under HRISA: an emergency stay, a de novo FTC appeal, and the possibility of pausing a sanction before it bites into a competition calendar. That Antonucci pursued this path publicly, and with HISA's own implicit endorsement of her legal standing, makes ALJ Himes's forthcoming decision one of the more consequential rulings in domestic racing's still-young integrity regime.